Negotiators say US spending deal clinched

WASHINGTON: United States congressional budget negotiators said on Wednesday they had reached a deal on federal spending for the remainder of fiscal 2018, two days before a deadline to fund the government or risk a shutdown.

The US$1.3 trillion (RM5 trillion) spending bill was hailed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, Congress’s top Republican, as marking “the beginning of a new era for the US military”, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it would fulfil Democratic goals.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, lamented having to “waste money” on “Dem giveaways” to secure the military funding.

“Got US$1.6 Billion to start Wall on Southern Border, rest will be forthcoming,” he wrote on Twitter late on Wednesday.

The monster measure, backed by Trump thanks in part to a lastminute sales pitch by Ryan at the White House on Wednesday, was introduced with precious little time to act.

Government funding expires at midnight tonight, and the House of Representatives and Senate will need to scramble if both chambers are to pass the bill and get it signed by Trump by the deadline.

The deal signals an end — or at least a pause — to the deeply partisan feuding over funding that has roiled Congress for months.

Five times since October, lawmakers have had to pass stopgap funding legislation to keep the government’s lights on. Twice this year the government was allowed to slip into shutdown.

A third lapse would be deeply embarrassing for a Republicancontrolled Congress facing midterm elections in November.

Non-defence domestic spending will reach US$591 billion, an increase of about 10 per cent.

The bill includes US$1.6 billion for construction of almost 160km of physical barriers and fencing along the US-Mexico border, part of Trump’s promised wall.

Another casualty of the lastminute haggling was a bipartisan effort to fund healthcare subsidies granted to insurance companies serving low-income patients.

That all but ensures that the fiery debate over Obamacare will continue into the November elections.